He started as a delivery boy of VHS cassettes in Mumbai. Then, he also worked as an assistant director with Ram Gopal Varma. Soon, he shifted his mind from filmmaking and ran to the Gulf to earn his bread. Then, he returned and made a super flop 'Trishakti'. No one noticed him, until one fine day he banged up on an out of the blue idea and made a film called 'Chandni Bar'. The film was a runaway hit. From then, there was no looking back for him. He has won two National Awards so far, and the energy express has just stopped at 'Traffic Signal'. He is Madhur Bhandarkar, another Mani Rathnam in making? He comes before you as just any other guy from the filmdom, but once behind the camera his films do jolt you to the hilt.
After showing true faces of 'Page 3' personalities and 'Corporate' world in his last two films, Madhur decides to take a break from glitterati and looks deep in the lives of those whose faces we don't remember though we see them, meet them and more often than not talk to them everyday. They are people living their life on traffic Signals. Seems to be a weird idea on face, but just think of hundreds of people who have just one anchor in their life, a Traffic Signal, and think of the time when an over-bridge threatens to make this signal vanish one fine day.
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Entering the film theatre I was sure of one thing that 'Traffic Signal' will not be just one more from Hindi film industry. Madhur's films have never been so. He tries to defy the stereotype. And, even he sometimes looks in a Hara-kiri mode when he even wishes to rub off his own identity that he got from his last film. Viewers say that his last two films 'Page 3' and 'Corporate' were for classes and only for multiplex audience. But, this last film of the trilogy takes a complete U-turn and take you to the streets where you will not even wish to stand for a minute and Madhur wishes us to watch a story of two hours and five minutes made on this locale. Will it work, will it not? A film like 'Salam-E- Ishq' with just 12 characters failed miserably and Madhur has 60 characters at his command. The censor certificate says it is just seven-reel film but will Madhur stand during these reels as strongly as he did in his last two films? I am inquisitive, so would have been Madhur.
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The film takes us to a traffic signal on some Kelkar Marg in Mumbai. On this signal thrives a full generation of beggars and sellers of petty items. There, this boy who comes neatly dressed in a bus, gets down near the signal. He throws away his clothes, puts some grease on the face and roams around in just one underwear and earns enough money to take his girlfriend to a multiplex (He meets his daily 'customer' here and lands in a funny situation). This small boy Dambar who looks at fairness cream ads and spends his hard earned money to buy them, thinks that the will make him look fair. Small people, small dreams! Then there is Dominique (Ranvir Shorey), who is a drug addict and cheats people for money by saying he is a software engineer and has lost his wallet on the way while going for an interview. He is in love with a roadside prostitute Noorie (Konkana Sen Sharma). And, there is Silsila (Kunal Khemu) who is manager of this signal. His job is to collect commission from all these people and make it reach to the mafia don who runs a multi-million beggar racket in the city.
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On the face you smell foul while coming out of the screen as the camera keeps on moving into slums. There is no glamour added to the story, no butter paper cinematography, no dream sequences, . no thumping background music and no great costumes. 'Traffic Signal' lacks all the ingredients of a masala entertainer. But, still it works because of one reason; it has its perception right. Madhur knows what he is going to show. The film that rolls very slowly in the first half picks its momentum just before the interval when we see an NGO worker collecting the entire thrown away plastic tricolor and putting them esthetically in his bag.
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The film is more on the lines of 'Salam Bombay' of Meera Nair than Ram Gopal Verma's 'Satya'. The difference that Madhur has made in filmmaking is that it has narrowed the gap between mainstream cinema and commercial cinema. He makes meaningful commercial cinema. And, the greatest achievement for him is that stars are now more than willing to work in films like this. If you are watching 'Traffic Signal' now, it is on the cost of the film not waiting to get premiered in the Cannes film festival. Yes, people from Cannes especially flew down to Mumbai to watch the film and request its producer to hold its release for them. But, makers of 'Traffic Signal' decided to win native hearts first.
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Madhur has come a long way in filmmaking. He is still a very down to earth person and it is this quality that got him the idea of make a film on beggars. He found this novel idea while walking from his home to famous Siddhi Vinayak temple on foot. He watched them on the way and was literally moved to feel their sufferings. But, it is not only the sufferings that make 'Traffic Signal' work , it is the sheer amount of life thrown into the celluloid that makes you feel them. When Ranvir Shorey gives you those blank looks, you feel the pain right in your heart. When he dies seeing his girlfriend sleeping with her customer, it pains you, too. It also pains you when little boy Tsunami spends all his money in searching his lost parents. There is more pain sometimes on the face of Silsila who ends up getting used as a tool in a murder and it also gives you pain when you see people from other states coming to beg in Mumbai and even to get their hands and legs amputed so that they can earn their bread.
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Among all these pains there are moments of pleasure as well. You feel happy when Dominique succeeds in cheating some good-looking guy. You also become part of Silsila's family when he welcomes the would be in-laws of his dear sister. This sequence shows how beggars fix their marriages and yes, without dowry as it is only for rich people. One can also feel the happiness that comes from the gifts of beloved. Rani (Neetu Chandra) may be just an average Kathiawadi girl but she is the only among the signal crowd who loves Silsila.
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'Traffic Signal' makes a good film even though it is not as stylish as were 'Corporate' and 'Page 3'. Madhur intentionally makes the camera work look shaggy. The post-production effects have been left to give the film a raw appeal. The scene where people mourn the downfall of the signal is the best one and the way the traffic cop removes his cap from the head. The film is good for those who want to see good cinema; it is brilliant for those who are fed up of seeing masala films and is the best for those who love cinema of festival circuit kind. But, there is a catch. And the catch is that the teenagers may just not click with the idea of seeing a film on beggars. Once this thought is rubbed off their minds they will definitely watch this latest outing. There are some good performances from Ranvir, Konkana and Kunal Khemu. Ranvir needs more meaty roles to show his potential and a full-length role too. Konkana is on the verge of filling the gap that has been void since the demise of Smita Patil and Kunal; he is an actor to watch out for. Next, you will see him in Priyadarshan's 'Dhol', and until then, Happy Watching.
PS: There is a very beautiful song sung by Bhupinder Singh in the film.
